


A Fairytale Halloween

by BarPurple



Series: BarPurple's House of Horror 2016 [7]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Halloween, Spells & Enchantments, Tropes, lots of moive references, this is very silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-12
Updated: 2016-10-12
Packaged: 2018-08-22 02:16:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8268908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarPurple/pseuds/BarPurple
Summary: As the Author Henry should have known better than to read aloud from a strange book.





	

**Author's Note:**

> You can play Horror Trope Bingo with this one ;)

In hindsight taking a trip to an isolated cabin in the woods during the last week of October wasn’t the best idea in a town lousy with magic, but Rumple and Belle wanted some quality, uninterrupted time with their little daughter. Hope had started crawling and the cabin was the perfect space for her to get to grips with her new mobility.

Belle was putting dinner together while Rumple crawled about after Hope, who was giggling and wriggling under furniture. He dodged around the table to cut her off and smiled fondly as Hope swatted at his legs, showing her displeasure at him sneaking up on her. Around them the lights of the cabin suddenly flickered, Rumple grit his teeth at the strange metallic tingle that ran down his spine, something was wrong. He scooped Hope from the floor and settled her on his hip as her turned on the spot, careful to keep his movements casual, the longer he could appear unaware the better.

Hope hadn’t quite mastered this level of subtly yet, her eyes fixed on the far corner of the room and she squirmed in Rumple’s arms as she reached her chubby little hands toward the dark shadows. Rumple turned on his heel and froze.

“Sweetheart, can you come in here, slowly please.”

The careful flat tone Rumple used put Belle on instant alert. She switched off the stove and made her way into the lounge, trying to keep an open mind about what she would find there. Her husband and daughter staring at a shadowy corner of the room hadn’t made it into her top fifty. Belle followed their gaze and at first saw nothing in the gloom that would have set Rumple on edge. She let her eyes drift out of focus, a little trick Rum had taught her to help her see beyond the expected; she stifled a gasp as the hulking figure of a man slipped into view. She refused to panic, even as she realised that the hefty pole held lax by the intruder’s side ended in a heavy axe.

“What do we need to do?”

Rumple had eased his way back across the room as slowly as he could, now he could feel Belle at his shoulder he took a moment to be grateful that she hadn’t screamed or used their names. Her ability to keep her head in a crisis would be vital to literally keeping their heads in this situation. He grimaced at the dark turn of his own thoughts and focused on the matter at hand.

“It’s a ghost, and I’ve never met him before,” Rumple gave a one shouldered shrug and added, “Living or dead.”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Belle roll her shoulders, for the briefest of instants he felt sorry for the ghost.

 

()()()()()

“Okay Snow, I’ll meet you at Granny’s. Love you too.”

Charming tucked his cell back in his pocket and dropped the truck into drive. He kept an eye on the forest just in case the headless horseman Leroy had reported jumped out from the trees. He glanced back at the road just in time.

“What the….?”

The brakes squealed as Charming stomped on them. Standing in the middle of the road was a woman, she had her back to him, but he could see enough of her to know that she wasn’t dressed for this weather. He was shrugging out of his jacket before he had the truck door fully open.

“Hello!”

There must be something sparkling thread in the white dress she wore because she glimmered in the headlights as she turned around to face him. Charming was a married man, a very happily married man, but he wasn’t blind, the woman was beautiful in a pale ethereal sort of way.

“Take me home.”

He wrapped his jacket around her shoulders; she was so cold he shivered.

“Of course. What’s your name?”

“Take me home.”

She moved like a sleep walker toward the truck and let him lift her into the seat. Charming was hoping she was in shock, although the iciness of her hands suggested that hypothermia was a strong possibility. 

“I should take you to the hospital.”

“No!”

Her angry tone of voice made him jump, he took his eyes from the road to throw her a fast glance. What he saw had him gripping the steering wheel and focusing hard on the road again. She’d lounged back in the seat, the hem of her impractically short dress had ridden up and she was trailing her fingers over the milky white flesh of her thighs. He cleared his throat; “No need to worry, Whale is a good doctor and after being out in the cold you really need to be looked at.”

“Why don’t you look at me?”

The not so subtle suggestion in her voice made him laugh uncomfortably. 

“Well, I’m not a doctor.”

It occurred to him that letting Whale anywhere near this woman might be a bad idea. Her cold hand gripped his thigh; he flinched and had to wrestle with the steering wheel to stop the truck mounting the curb.

“No! Stop that! We’re almost at the hospital.”

He shuffled as far away from her as he could while still being able drive. He certainly broke the speed limit, but it felt like an eternity before the hospital came into view. The second he killed the engine he found himself with a lap full of strange woman.

“Come on David, no one will know.”

He caught her wrists in his hands.

“Woah! I’ll know. I’m happily married to my true love.”

“But you’ve cheated before.”

“We were cursed! That doesn’t count!”

The woman in white pulled back from him and frowned. Charming blinked and she was gone leaving nothing but a cold breath of air that smelt faintly of lilies. He scrubbed his hands through his hair.

“Okay, that was odd, even for this town.”

There was a blood curdling howl from the hospital, a group of people raced from the building and scattered into the streets. Doc skidded to a halt by Charming’s truck and gasped; “Werewolf!”

“You mean Ruby?”

A massive hairy beast smashed through the doors of the ER. Doc snapped; “Does that look like Red to you?

The wolf threw back its head and howled, the street lights glinted off a mouthful of fangs, the few other details Charming took in confirmed that this wasn’t the sort of werewolf he was used to. 

“Defiantly not Ruby, she’d never wear that orange and black plaid.”

 

()()()()()

 

“Terrible news everybody! Ichabod Crane is coming!”

It wasn’t an unusual occurrence for Leroy to charge down Main Street announcing the bad guy of the week at the top of his lungs. (Regina had once mocked up a payslip for him listing his job as Town Crier). Unless the chaos was actually on his heels nobody ran anymore. It was easier, and more productive, to phone friends and family; Belle and Henry had worked out a phone tree so the news spread around the whole town as quickly and calmly as possible, Henry had named it Protocol Grapevine and it worked a treat. Once their phones calls were made people would head to Granny’s to hear the news and the initial plan; and if they were honest have a little giggle at the inevitable argument that would break out.

By the time Snow and Regina arrived at the dinner the argument was in full swing. It was typical of Storybrooke that no one was questioning the existence of the headless horseman that had been seen galloping through the woods, but everyone had an opinion on his identity and was determined to be heard.

“No! No! No! Ichabod Crane was not the Headless Horseman.”

“Yes he was!”

“No he bloody well wasn’t! Ichabod was investigating the horseman. The horseman was the Hessian.”

“That’s from the movie version of the story. Ichabod was the Headless Horseman back home.”

“That’s just a myth, even in our realm!”

“Did you grow up in Sleepy Hollow? No you didn’t, so shut the hell up! I know what I’m talking about.”

It might have come to blows if Granny hadn’t slammed a tray against the counter. Whatever the identity of the Headless Horseman, nobody was more scared of him then they were of Granny; the diner owner was already in a bad mood because someone had left long gouge marks in the walls on the B&B’s stairway. She’d accused Killian of the destruction, but since he’d been with Emma all afternoon she’d had to grudgingly admit it probably wasn’t him. The pirate was now sat in one of the far booths trying to avoid the sharp looks that Granny kept throwing in his direction.

Snow took advantage of the sudden lull and asked; “What do we know for sure so far?”

 

()()()()()

Rumple put two fresh cups of tea on the coffee table and handed Hope her sippy cup of juice. The toddler was sat on Belle’s lap playing with her teddy bear, occasionally smiling and cooing at the ghost on the couch, who would wave shyly back to her. Belle had dealt with their spirit intruder by marching up to him and asking who he was and what he wanted. The ghost had tried to snarl at her, but Belle put her hands on her hips and calmly told him as a guest in their house he should show some manners. 

Rumple had recognized the confused look on the ghost’s face; he’d worn a similar one many times since Belle had come into his life, it was interesting to watch another dark creature fall under the odd spell she wove. The ghost had stammered out an apology and sat down to answer Belle’s questions. He’d given his name as Talbot and banished his axe so as not to scare Hope. Rumple didn’t think that Hope was scared of the axe, but she had shown rather too much curiosity about the potentially murderous item.

Talbot caught Rumple’s eye and said; “I am very sorry for trying to scare you, all three of you. I wouldn’t have killed you, that’s not part of the contract for tonight.”

Belle flashed a knowing look at her husband; Talbot had just spoken a word that was practically magical for Rumple.

“What contract would that be, dearie?”

()()()()()

In the diner Snow reeled slightly as the shouting reached a new peak, from what she could make out in all the noise there was more running around town than a headless horseman. Regina rolled her eyes and clapped her hands together, it was a tiny sound, but it shut everyone up.

“Thank you. Shall we try this again? One at a time.”

People were a little more hesitant to speak when it was Regina doing the asking, but one by one the townsfolk offered up their tales of the strange goings on.

“I saw a man in a long cloak with a hook scratch all the cars on Main Street.”

Killian piped up from the corner; “That wasn’t me!”

“No this guy was really tall and he had two hands.”

Granny sniffed and threw Killian a shrug that was the closest he was going to get to an apology at the moment. Feeling more confident the rest of the town started calling out the strange things that had happened to them today. Nobody paid any attention to Henry who was tucking in a far corner making a list, nervously chewing on his pen.

“Something with tentacles stole my sandwich down at the beach.”

“The cemetery is full of fog and moaning skeletons.”

“No one in the Rabbit Hole can stop dancing.”

Emma’s eyebrows rose with each statement, this was unbelievable and yet very familiar, before she could voice her thoughts Charming hurried in closely followed by Doc.

“There’s a werewolf, not Ruby, more of a wolf-man actually on the loose, and I think I picked up a phantom hitchhiker.”

That was the last straw for Emma, she burst out laughing.

“Seriously? We need to tell these guys that Halloween isn’t until next week.”

She was met with blank looks and confusion.

“Oh come on, some of you must have watched horror films? Phantom hitchhikers? Hook hand? Wolfman? They’re horror film standards.”

There were a few nods and mutters of agreement, but most people were still looking deeply uneasy. Everyone started talking among themselves, resuming their arguments about the strange happenings, but at a more subdued volume. Snow, Charming and Regina joined Emma and Killian at their table.

“Okay what am I missing here? Nobody has been hurt, but everyone is freaking out.”

Snow gave a little sigh and tried to explain.

“The things that make up horror films in this realm are very real in the Enchanted Forest. And they can hurt people, but only after they’ve really frightened everyone.”

Emma heaved a deep sigh.

“So, things are only going to get worse.”

()()()()()

Rumple rolled his empty teacup in his hands as he listened to Talbot’s story. He was still and silent for a moment before he began asking questions.

“You were summoned here to cause mischief? Do you know the nature of the spell that did that?”

Talbot shook his head.

“It could be anything, but it was a powerful call, it takes a lot of power to gather this many phantasmagoria in one place.”

Belle’s eyebrows rose.

“There’s lot of you here, here in town?”

“Oh yes. I saw Doctor Finkle and the Swamp Thing on my way in, and the Bones Gang was heading for the graveyard.”

At the sight of Belle’s wide eyes Talbot panicked and tried to pat her hand.

“But don’t worry I’ll keep you and your family safe if you stay here.”

Rumple found himself feeling a tiny bit jealous as Belle gave the ghost a warm smile; he shook the feeling away as foolish and listened to what Belle was saying.

“That’s very kind of you Talbot, but we have other family and friends in town. From the sounds of things they are going to need our help tonight.”

Talbot glowed as he smiled at her; “That very noble Missus Belle, but it won’t be safe for the young one to make the journey into town.”

“We can get there by magic.”

Rumple couldn’t resist demonstrating by smoking the teacup he was hold onto the coffee table. He frowned as the cup rattled on its rim in the hearth. Hope babbled sadly at her Daddy, that shouldn’t have happened. Talbot shrugged.

“Transportation spells won’t work, at least you won’t end up where you intend to.”

Belle raised a questioning eyebrow at Rumple, who sighed and leaned forward in his chair.

“Talbot, how would you feel about making a deal?”

()()()()()

“Actually, for once that is not the case, Miss Swan.”

The heroes looked up in surprise at the arrival of Gold and Belle. Not for the first time Emma wished Gold still used his cane, that familiar tapping sound made it harder for him to appear unexpectedly, but then again she’d not heard Belle’s heels either. She glanced down at the librarian’s feet and blinked in surprise. Belle caught her stare and wiggled the toes of her practical sneakers.

“We had to make a run for it after the caddy crashed. I watch horror films; the bookish brunette always trips and gets grabbed by the monster. I wasn’t willing to take the chance.”

Emma nodded; Belle’s logic was sound, although she couldn’t bring to mind a single film when the bookish brunette ran away with a monster at her side. Emma chided herself, that wasn’t fair, Gold might still be the Dark One, but he’d really cleaned up his act since his daughter was born. Killian had focused on something else Belle had said.

“The caddy crashed? Are you alright?”

Belle gave him a bright smile and dug something out of her pocket.

“We’re fine, sorry about your Bug Emma.”

She dropped a very familiar yellow toy car on to the table top. Emma poked it with her finger and then glared at Gold.

“You turned my Bug into a toy?”

Gold returned her glare, for all his face was set in hard lines there was a twinkle in his eyes that made her sure he was enjoying this.

“It was possessed and forced us from the road. You can turn it back once this nonsense is over.”

Regina tried not to laugh at the murderous look on Emma’s face, she really was very attached to that car.

“Why didn’t you just magic yourselves here?”

Rumple rolled his eyes at his former student.

“Because, dearie, transportation spells were the first thing affected by this little curse.”

“And how do you know that?”

She’d been hoping for a tale of Rumple ending up somewhere awkward, but he just gave her an enigmatic smirk. Belle nudged him and his face softened into a gentle smile. He helped his wife climb onto a chair so she could address the crowd.

“Hello, everyone. Has anyone opened a strange box, rubbed a lamp, lit an unusual candle or read aloud from a new book today?”

There was some rapid muttering and lots of head shaking, then from the far side of the dinner Henry raised his hand.

“Erm, I read one of Mom’s books to Violet today.”

He made his way through the crowd and stood anxiously in front of his family. From his backpack he pulled an old leather bound book.

“Mom said it was just a reference book, but I’m not so sure now.”

Rumple lifted Belle down from the chair. She took the book from Henry’s hands and sighed at the sight of the title.

“Phantasmagoria. This is it.”

Regina huffed.

“That’s just a dull encyclopaedia. I’ve read it a dozen times without anything happening.”

Rumple twisted to face her and gave her one of his best withering looks.

“You don’t meet the criteria for the summoning spell, dearie. Did you never think to read the writer’s name?”

Regina snatched the book out of Belle’s hands and read the name aloud.

“Miss Chief.”

Emma groaned, “I suppose at least they were honest about it. What criteria did Henry meet?”

Henry was staring at the ceiling, his cheeks flushed with the dull red of embarrassment. The penny dropped for Emma when she heard him mutter; “Hocus Pocus.”

“Oh, right. I see, well that’s good,” She turned from her son to find confused looks on the face of his other mother and her boyfriend, “I’ll explain later. Can we fix this?”

“Very simply Miss Swan, we just need to get to the pawnshop. I have the ingredients there for the counter-spell.”

When put like that it was such a simple plan, which is why everyone held their breath for a moment and weren’t at all surprised when Leroy called from his station by the windows.

“Things are going crazy out there!”

For once Leroy’s assessment was an understatement. The wolfman was hunkered on top of a car snapping at anyone who passed by, pausing occasionally to howl at the moon; the skeletons from the cemetery were rattling their way down the street juggling their skulls between each other as the dodged the headless horseman who was doing his best to collect as many bony heads as he could, when he wasn’t taking wild swings at the townsfolk scurrying by; the phantom hitchhiker was in deep conversation with Archie, who looked very uncomfortable and was using his umbrella to maintain a polite distance between them.

“This isn’t going to be easy.”

Granny handed Snow a bow and quiver.

“Whatever you’re going to do, try not to get hurt. Nurse Ratchet just called to say the hospital walls are bleeding and there’s a mad scientist on the loose.”

Everyone frowned at that, but it was Rumple who asked the question they were all considering.

“Our regular chief of medicine mad scientist or a new one?”

Granny peered at him over her spectacles; “I couldn’t hear that bit because of the screaming.”

Emma rolled her eyes and shook her hand loose.

“Okay let’s do this.”

()()()()()

Getting out of Granny’s was the easiest bit. Belle and Henry dashed for the pawnshop with Rumple close on their heels firing magic at anything that got to close.

Charming and Snow took on the Headless Horseman; Snow hit him will several arrows before Charming was able to pull him out of the saddle. It didn’t stop him, but it slowed him down. 

Regina waved a hand and conjured a giant bone for the wolfman, it might have been pandering to a stereotype, but it worked perfectly. After that she joined Emma in hurling fireballs at the skeletons. Killian tried to run to help Archie, but was waylaid by the Hookman. They two of them ended up in one of the oddest duels ever seen.

Inside the pawnshop Rumple was having problems with a creepy doll, thankfully not one that was part of his usual inventory. The twee porcelain doll was currently stabbing at his ankles with a hatpin while he slapped it away with a broom.

“As fast as you can please, sweetheart!”

Belle and Henry were grabbing the items they needed from the shelves. The doll twisted its head backwards to hiss at them.

“Oh no you don’t dearie!”

Rumple flipped his hold on the broom and whacked the doll’s head with the handle. The porcelain cracked, but held. The head span back to glare at him with its cold painted eyes, he gave a twittering laugh and whacked it again harder. His eye widened as the doll ducked the blow and leapt at him.

At the counter Belle threw the final herb into the bowl and shouted; “Now Henry!”

Rumple didn’t hear Henry recite the enchantment, he was too busy trying to pull the doll off his face. Relief washed through him when he felt the magic drain away as the enchantment took hold. He held the now limp doll at arm’s length as he checked Belle and Henry were safe.

“It that it? Is everything back to normal now?”

Belle’s nose scrunched a little as she realised Rumple was counting under his breath, when he reached thirty the doll in his hand surged back to life, the hatpin clutched in its tiny hand poised to stab Rumple’s wrist. Rumple snorted and snapped the fingers of his free hand, the doll screamed as the fireball took hold. He dropped it to the floor and prodded the charred remains with the toe of his shoe. Henry began to laugh.

“Now it’s over.”

()()()()()

It took a few days to put Storybrooke to rights, but the town was well practised at post-monster clean-up. Killian helped with the repairs in Granny’s; the dwarves gathered up all the stray bones the skeletons had left in the cemetery; Emma returned her Bug to the correct size, but had to wait until the garage could give it a tune up, they were busy with all the cars from Main Street that needed paint jobs; Snow and Regina had an argument with Whale, who wanted to hire Doctor Finkle, the mad scientist, for the hospital staff. As Henry found out when he was writing the tale of the last few days in the Storybook the Doctor wasn’t the only phantom that had decided to stay in town.

Rumple winced as the bell above the door rattled, he’d honestly expected Henry sooner. He didn’t get a chance to say hello, the lad followed in the footsteps of his mother’s side and instantly began shouting.

“You let a murderous, axe-wielding ghost baby-sit Auntie Hope!”

Rumple was surprised, but hid it well, he was still getting used to the idea that there were people in town, other than Belle and him, who genuinely cared about Hope.

“His name is Talbot. I tried to make a deal with him, but he was happy to look after Hope.”

“Why?”

“He was tired of being a monster, and I think he has a little crush on Belle.”

Henry relaxed, he knew the effect his Grandma had on supposed bad guys.

“That’s okay then. When can I meet him?”


End file.
